Piston-ring compressor



April 29, 1924.

F.. Lw MQQRE PISTON RING COMPRESSOR Original Filed Deo. 8

i provement of such tools.

Patented Apr. 29, 1924..

UNITED STATES lPATENT OFFICE.

FRANK L. MOORE, 0F TRUMANSBUBG, NEW YORK.

PISTON-BING COMPRESSOR.

Application led December 8, 1920, Serial No. 429,116. Renewed September 26, 1923.

To (IZZ ywiz-0m it may concern:

`Be it known that I, FRANK L. MOORE, a citizen of the United States of America,

residing at Trumansburg, in the county 0f- Tompkins and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Piston-Ring Compressors, of which the following is a specification, reference being had thereinto the accompanyino* drawing.

lily invention relates to tools for handling parts of engines, and has special reference to that class of devices used for setting and removing piston rings, and for inserting and removing the pistons in and from cylinders.

My invention has for its object the im- I attain thisl object by employing a sleeve or band of peculiar form applicable to pistons of various diameters, which is the first feature of improvement; also capable of convenient control from the crank case end of cylinders, and other locations usually found very inconvenient with ordinary tools, which is the second feature of improvement; also having stops adapted to fit any piston ring wit-hin its range, which is the third feature of improvement; and being adjustable without specific spaced steps, ensuring equal action for all sizes, which is the fourth feature of improvement. Other features, such as the applicability of this tool to the removal of rings from the pistons, etc., will sulliciently appear from the detailed description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a side view of the device applied to a piston;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-20f Fig.

lgand Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section taken through the plane of the axes of the. clamping band and tightening rod with the rod shown in full.

Referring to the drawings in-detail, the

i device, which takes the general form of a circular clamp, comprises a main clamping band 1 having its ends overlapped as indicated at 2 and held together by an auxiliary band or tongue 3, fixed to the main band at 4, and a holder 5 fixed to the main band at 6. The auxiliary or tightening band 3 connects with the holder 5 through a split winding rod 7 nested in the cylindrical holder 5, the band 3 entering the holder through the opening 8 and engaging with the windingrod through means of a slot 9. By extending the slot through the end of the rod as indicated the two sides of the slotted portion are rendered capable of being brought together to bind the endof the tightening band therebetween under the clampin action of the band on the rod.

As a ocking meansfor the Winding rod I use a thumb set-screw 10 passed through a threaded opening 11 in the wall of the holder 5 into vengagement with the winding rod at a point above the slot. The winding rod 7 .extends from the holder 5 to form an elongated handle 12 by which the device may be controlled from a point removed according to the amount of extension of the rod.

A radially extending lug 13 is carried by the main band substantially diametrically opposite the holder 5, and which together with the bottom of the holder 5 forms a pair of stops adapted to lit any ring within the range of the device. The upper edge of the main band 1 is flared as indicated at 14 while lthe lower edge is curved inwardly as indicated at 15 for a purpose which will be brought out in the description of operation.

In the operation of inserting a piston in the cylinder of an engine, say downwardly from the top of the cylinder, the clamp is placed on the piston head 16, as indicated in Fig. 1 so as to surround the lower piston ring but with the lower edge of the clamp slightly above the bottom of the piston. The projecting lower portion of fthe piston 16 is then inserted in the cylinder after which the whole piston head is pushed down into the cylinder through the ring formed by the main band 1, the flared edge 14 and inwardly curved edge 15 acting to gradually compress the piston rings into the clamp and to give them a final compression as they leave the bottom of the clamp.

In inserting a piston from the lower or crank case end of the cylinder, the operation is the same except that the clamp is initially placed over the upper rings with the handle extending downwardly.

Inl installing or removing-piston rin s,

the ring is drawn over the lower end of t e clamp on the outside of the clamp up against the lug 13 and the bottom of the holder 5, as indicated in dotted lines at 17 in Fig. 3, which enables the ring to be moved over the piston without encountering other rings or engaging the wrong groove.

It isv to be noted that the holder 5 and winding'rod 7 with. its controlling handle 12 constitute actuating means not limited to any fixed adjustment or adjustments but acting continuously upon the auxiliary or drawing band 3'to clamp any size piston within the limits of its range of operation.

What I claim is 1. A clamp for piston rings comprising an open ring band for clamping, a flexible drawing band or strap having one end at.-

tached to the clamping band at one side of its opening and an actuating device for the drawing band secured to the clamping band on the other side 'of the opening and receiving and drawing continuously upon the free end of the drawing band.

2. The clamp claimed in claim 1 having a handle for the actuating means with means extending parallel tothe axis of the clamping band and beyond the end of the entire tool, for locking the same when set..

3. The clamp claimed in claim 1 having fixed stops at separated points on the clamp-v ing band, adapted to engage the edges of rings of varying diameters.

4. The clamp claimed in claim 1 having the actuating mea-ns acting continuously upon the drawing band to clamp any size cylinder within its range without specific spaced steps, and locking means operable at will at any point in the clamping operation.

5. The combination tool described herein comprising a flexible clamping band, a flexible drawing band attached to one side of the clamping band intermediate of its ends, an actuating device for the drawing band secured to one end of the clamping band and receiving and drawing upon the end of the drawing band, said clamping band being fiared around one edge to permit ready insertion of piston rings therein.

6. The tool claimedin claim 5 having one edge of the clamping band outwardly bevelled or flared and the other edge inwardly turned, with stops on the band above said edge, whereby the piston rings are gradually compressed as the piston is forced down through the clamp,t and finally compressed as they leave the bottom of the clamp, eliminating friction between the 

